1. Technical Field
The invention relates to videocassette containers, and in particular to a sleeve for storing and displaying a videocassette. More particularly, the invention relates to such a sleeve for storing and displaying a videocassette in which the videocassette can be quickly and easily slidably inserted into and removed from the sleeve and in which a chipboard cover having printed indicia thereon identifying a prerecorded program on the videocassette remains in the sleeve upon removal of the videocassette therefrom.
2. Background Information
Rentals of videocassettes having prerecorded programs thereon such as popular movies, exercise routines, etc., continue to increase as the number of homes having videocassette recorders/players increases. As videocassette rentals and the number of program titles available on videocassette continue to increase, owners of stores which rent the videocassettes continue to strive for more efficient ways of storing and displaying the videocassettes.
The current practice in most videocassette rental stores is to display chipboard covers or boxes having printed indicia thereon identifying the prerecorded programs on the videocassettes, on shelves in areas of the store to which the public has access. Customers then are free to browse through the boxes to assist them in choosing which videocassettes to rent. After choosing a particular prerecorded program which a customer desires to view, he/she either takes the empty chipboard box for that videocassette from the shelf or some other means of identification such as a code number tag corresponding to the videocassette, to a store employee stationed behind a counter. The employee then retrieves the desired videocassette from a storage area behind the counter or from a remote room and completes the rental transaction. The customer usually takes the rented videocassette home in a usual videocassette storage container of a type which is well-known in the art and which has a lid for complete closure of the container.
Such a system requires owners of videocassette rental stores to not only provide enough floor space for public display of the information-bearing chipboard or cardboard boxes so that customers can choose the prerecorded programs which they wish rent, but also to provide adequate behind-the-counter inventory areas for storing the actual videocassettes. In addition, the public is continually handling the chipboard boxes when browsing through the store to choose the videocassettes, and eventually the boxes wear out. If the store has bought only a single copy of a particular videocassette program title and its box wears out, the only way to replace the box is to buy an additional copy of the videocassette, which could be a needless increase of inventory costs, especially for infrequently rented videocassettes. Also, most rental store owners typically resell their videocassettes after approximately six months of customer use. To help enhance the resale value of the used videocassettes, they are placed in the chipboard boxes in which they were originally shipped from the videocassette manufacturer to the rental store owner, and shrink-wrapped. However, excessively handled and worn boxes further reduces the attractiveness of the already-used videocassettes as a resale item.
My invention would enable the videocassette rental store owner to display the information-bearing chipboard boxes in a protective transparent sleeve with or without the actual videocassette therein. If theft of the videocassettes is not a concern in a particular store, the owner may desire to place the videocassettes within the sleeve together with its corresponding chipboard box, and display the sleeve on a shelf to which the public has access. A customer then simply would remove the sleeve from the shelf and take the same to an employee at a counter for completing the rental transaction. The customer could transport the videocassette home in the sleeve, or the employee could remove the videocassette from the sleeve and place the videocassette in a usual completely enclosed videocassette storage container for transport to the customer's home.
In stores where theft is a problem, the owner may choose merely to place the sleeve containing only the chipboard box on the public access shelves. A customer desiring to rent a particular videocassette would take the sleeve and chipboard box to an employee at the counter who would then complete the rental transaction, either utilizing the sleeve for transport of the videocassette to the customer's home or allowing the customer to take the videocassette home in a usual lid-type videocassette storage container. Thus, these alternate systems not only preserve the chipboard boxes, but the former system could also significantly reduce behind-the-counter storage space.
Therefore, the need exists for a videocassette storage and display sleeve which stores and displays a videocassette and/or its corresponding chipboard cover having printed indicia thereon identifying a prerecorded program on the videocassette, and which enables the videocassette to be quickly and easily inserted into and removed from the sleeve while the chipboard cover remains in the sleeve.